In 2025, fire departments serving Seiling responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $135K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
243 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 82 | — | |
| 2023 | 54 | -34.1% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -3.7% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -25.0% |
* Well below Seiling's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Seiling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 59 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 21.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 19 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 6.0% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Seiling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 77 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Match | 14 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 13 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Seiling departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $135,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Seiling sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 651,362 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 286,196 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 62,481 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 57,167 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,790 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 44,234 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41,497 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,488 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,100 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,072 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,520 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,530 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,042 | 33.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Seiling. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Seiling.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.